Octavia - Fully Voiced Shield-Sister Follower - 10461 Voiced Lines (Followers-Companions-Romance-Quest-EoS)

Who she is

Octavia is a shield-bearer from the fort at Pale Pass. She came north looking for someone worth swearing an oath to, and every tavern between Riverwood and Whiterun says your name. She is devoted to Stendarr, says what she thinks, and has an opinion about your hall, your knights, your household and your warband.Talk to her

• Say "Let's talk." and pick a subject: her past, what she thinks about the Divines, Talos, the Thalmor, the war, magic, the Daedra, every Jarl and hold, food and drink, honour; how she sees the two of you; romance; what happened when you've hurt her trust; training; your home; your followers; your holdings.
• Long talks: 27 conversations that branch on how you answer (kind, blunt or joking): the fort in winter, the day she left, her mother's letters, the first person she killed, her scar, her oath, marriage, children, growing old.
• Orders: fight closer, hold back, use your shield, heal yourself, take this potion. Command her to open a door, pick something up or attack, and she answers for what you pointed at. Tell her to attack an innocent, a child, a guard or a friend, or to open someone's chest, and she refuses.

She speaks in my other mods

In Warband, Word Travels, Hjertesten Hall, the Halls of Order and White Hearth she says their lines in her own voice: her posts and orders in the band, the stories she tells as one of your people, her work when you hire her at an estate.She notices things

• Places: every hold and city, villages, inns, tombs, Dwemer ruins, mines, forts, Blackreach, High Hrothgar, Sovngarde, the Soul Cairn, Solstheim. She has something to say when you walk out of a city, a dungeon or your home.
• Weather and the world: snow, rain, fog, storms, blizzards, cloud, Solstheim ash, the month of the year, nights, dawns, the sea and the rivers, waterfalls, bridges, docks and ships, shrines, standing stones, word walls, ruins, graves and gallows, horses, wolves, bears, deer, farm animals, Khajiit caravans, hunters, couriers, guards, soldiers of both sides, Thalmor, children, bards, beggars, a dragon overhead.
• How long it has been: hours on the road since the last town, a quiet stretch after a fight, a hard fight today, how many you have killed today, a day without sleep, coming home after weeks away.
• Spar with her: ask "Spar with me." outside a city and she fights you with blunted blows until one of you yields. She talks while you trade hits.
• What you do: your armour, your Shouts (by Shout), your spells (fire, frost, healing, atronachs, raising the dead and more), sneaking, lockpicking, stealing, drinking, eating, going hungry, carrying too much, catching a disease, becoming a vampire or a werewolf, getting a bounty, crafting at the forge or grindstone, buying and selling, reading, sleeping, setting off a trap, killing a dragon.
• Gifts: hand her food, a book, flowers, a shield, a weapon, a potion or jewellery and she answers for what it is.
• Quest advice: the main quest step by step, the Civil War on either side, the Companions, the College, the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood, the Daedric quests, Dawnguard and Dragonborn.
• People: short conversations with over a hundred named characters: Lydia and the housecarls, the Companions, Jarls, smiths, innkeepers, Delphine, Paarthurnax, Serana and more. They answer her in their own voices.
• Other followers: lines for the vanilla housecarls, hirelings and followers, and for big custom followers when they travel with you: Inigo, Lucien, Kaidan, Auri, Remiel, Sofia, Katana, Megara, Recorder, Hoth and the Interesting NPCs followers. New in 1.0.2: short conversations with ColdSun's followers.

How you meet her: "Shield-Sister"

• About a day into your game, a courier brings you a letter from her.
• Meet her at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood. She wants to see how you fight first: Embershard Mine if it's still held, otherwise the next fight you win together.
• Then she offers her oath. Take it, or tell her you don't need one.
• You can also just walk up to her at the inn and ask her to follow you.

As a follower

• Her own follower system. She never takes the game's follower slot, so she travels next to your other followers.
• Follow, wait, trade, go home, and "I need you to do something", all in her own voice.
• In Warband and Estates of Skyrim she says their lines in her own voice: in the band, and when you hire her at an estate.
• She greets a stranger like a stranger, a friend like a friend: different greetings before you meet her, while she follows, while she waits for you, and after you send her home.
• Hundreds of voiced lines for combat, crimes she sees you commit, corpses, locked doors, your shouts and more.
• You choose how much she talks: in her MCM, turn her own remarks on or off and set the gap between them, from 1 to 60 minutes (7 by default).
• Her own frost set: Frostwarden's Oath (sword, frost damage), Pale Pass Bulwark (shield, resist frost), Wintersong (bow, frost damage), Frostwarden Arrows, and her spell Stendarr's Frost. Made in the colours of her armor.

She grows closer to you

• The longer she travels with you, the closer she gets: recruit, companion, friend, close. Her greetings, goodbyes and answers change at every stage.
• Romance and marriage, nothing explicit. Tell her how you feel once she's close to you, court her, propose wearing an Amulet of Mara, and take your vows at the Temple of Mara in Riften.
• She has a conscience. Murder, cruelty or leaving her waiting for days breaks her trust: a few cold days follow, then she makes up with you.

Who she talks to

She has her own lines with every one of these people. The named characters answer her back in their own voices.

Whiterun and Riverwood

• Jarl Balgruuf, Irileth, Proventus Avenicci, Farengar Secret-Fire, Lydia
• Aela, Farkas, Vilkas, Kodlak Whitemane, Skjor, Athis, Njada, Torvar
• Adrianne Avenicci, Eorlund Gray-Mane, Hulda, Heimskr, Danica Pure-Spring, Skulvar Sable-Hilt, Braith, Belethor, Ysolda, Arcadia
• Riverwood: Alvor, Dorthe, Gerdur, Lucan and Camilla Valerius, Sven, Faendal, Delphine; Rorikstead: Mralki, Rorik

Solitude

• Jarl Elisif the Fair, Falk Firebeard, General Tullius, Legate Rikke, Viarmo, Jordis the Sword-Maiden, Corpulus Vinius, Beirand, Evette San

Windhelm

• Ulfric Stormcloak, Galmar Stone-Fist, Jorleif, Wuunferth the Unliving, Oengul War-Anvil, Viola Giordano, Brunwulf Free-Winter, Revyn Sadri, Torsten Cruel-Sea, Elda Early-Dawn

Riften

• Jarl Laila Law-Giver, Anuriel, Maven Black-Briar, Brynjolf, Keerava, Talen-Jei, Hofgrir Horse-Crusher, Balimund, Elgrim, Grelod the Kind, Constance Michel, Mjoll the Lioness, Maramal

Markarth and the north

• Markarth: Jarl Igmund, Raerek, Calcelmo, Ondolemar, Ghorza gra-Bagol
• Dawnstar: Jarl Skald the Elder, Beitild, Thoring; Morthal: Jarl Idgrod Ravencrone, Jonna; Falkreath: Jarl Siddgeir, Dengeir of Stuhn, Lod, Valga Vinicia; Winterhold: Jarl Korir, Birna, Tolfdir, Urag gro-Shub

The war, the dragons and Dawnguard

• Hadvar, Ralof, Arngeir and the Greybeards, Esbern, Paarthurnax, Serana, Isran, Frea, Neloth
• On the road: Ri'saad and Ma'dran's caravans, M'aiq the Liar, Talsgar the Wanderer, the Old Orc

Followers

• Housecarls and followers: Lydia, Jordis, Iona, Argis, Calder, Serana, Aela, Farkas, Vilkas, Jenassa, Marcurio, Belrand, Stenvar, Erik, Vorstag, Mjoll, Uthgerd, Faendal, Sven, Cicero, J'zargo
• Custom followers, when they travel with you: Inigo, Lucien, Kaidan, Auri, Remiel, Sofia, Katana, Megara, Recorder, Hoth, and Zora, Rumarin and Anum-La from Interesting NPCs
• ColdSun's followers, short conversations: Anaka Winter-Mane, Ashtoreth, Astara Cosma, Bliss, Cheska, Coralyn, Fiarrah, Guzmara gra-Lorga, Hrist, Inalion, Jyreen, Kayle, Lyris Titanborn, Mornhilde Raven-Hair, Sasana, Sigrun, Solga gra-Lorga, Solvi, Talwelin, Valentina, Vayne, Vixi Talax

Made for my mods

Octavia knows these mods when you have them installed. All of them are optional: she works fully on her own.

• Hjertesten Hall - Extra Jobs and Features, Stables and Extra Buildings: she talks about the hall, the ledger, whether she'd live there, and the horses in the stables, and tells you when food is running low or your people go hungry.
• Halls of Order - Knights of the Order: the Order, Rubian, the treasury, guarding the crystal, and raid warnings.
• White Hearth - Extra Jobs and Features: the household, holding court, the Thalmor, and warnings about sieges, feasts and raids on Riverwood.
• Word Travels - Friends Talk About Your Deeds: she comes to talk about what you've done like your other friends, in her own voice.
• Warband (optional, currently off Nexus): with Warband 1.2.3 or newer she joins your band as a full member and can take any post. She reacts to new recruits, rank-ups, jobs done well or badly, camps, and fallen members.
• 212 voiced remarks about these places and events, and 24 questions you can ask her about them.

If you enjoy my mods and want to support them, you can donate here.



Her look

• Her own face, built on High Poly Head. The head and brows are included, so you don't need to install anything for her face.
• Her own long braid with FSMP physics.
• Her outfit is Ashtoreth's Frostwarden Regalia, fitted to her body and included with Ashtoreth's permission.
• Optional file: Hallowed Witch Looks. A power moves her through five looks from JudeINC's The Hallowed Witch, with charcoal weapons to match, and back to her own armor. Needs his mod.

Installation

Built and played in a Nolvus Awakening load order. Nolvus users: install it like any other mod.

Install with your mod manager and enable all three plugins: Octavia.esp, Octavia - Part 2.esp and Octavia - Part 3.esp. All are ESL-flagged, so none uses a load order slot. Her MCM needs SkyUI and MCM Helper. On Skyrim older than 1.6.1130 you also need Backported Extended ESL Support. Start a new game or load a save: she is waiting in the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood.

Safe to install mid-game: load your save, and about a day later, once you are outside and out of combat, a courier brings you her letter. Meet her at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood.

Good to know

• She stands in the Sleeping Giant Inn, so the plugin touches that interior cell. Mods that rework the inn's layout may need to load after her.
• If you have SPID installed, a small ini keeps hair and skin overhaul mods from changing her look.
• Already in a save before you installed an update? She gets her frost set on her own the first time the mod runs.

Credits

• Ashtoreth for the Frostwarden Regalia, included with her permission. Meshes rebuilt in BodySlide to Octavia's body; textures and skirt physics are hers.
• KouLeifoh for High Poly Head (her head and brow mesh, included). Koralina for Koralina's Eyebrows (her brow texture, included).
• DaydreamingDay for FSMP - Faster HDT-SMP.
• Caliente, ousnius and contributors for CBBE 3BA and BodySlide.
• jg1 for Vanilla Hair Remake (her hair 14).
• The SKSE team.
• powerofthree for Papyrus Extender.
• Built with houseCARL and DevBench.
• JudeINC for The Hallowed Witch, with his permission (needed only for the optional Looks file; none of his files are included).

About AI use

Octavia was built with the help of an AI coding assistant (records & scripts). Her voice is an AI clone of a real person's voice, my wife's, used with her consent. The frost set image was rendered from the mod's own files. I play her in my own game and fix reports fast, so tell me in the posts if anything's off.